Two years after its last round of venture capital, Ottawa's BTI Photonic Systems Inc. has secured a fresh investment of US$2.5 million to drive its sales and marketing efforts.

In hand with the financing round, the company also named local tech veteran Marco Pagani to its board of directors.

"BTI's photonic layer platform fills the gap at the edge, between existing core networks and customers. With their unique metro edge solution, they are well positioned to be at the heart of the new broadband services build outs," Ron Patterson, executive VP of MMV Financial, said in a statement. "We believe that BTI has a tremendous growth potential over the next three to five years."

With its last round of venture capital, worth $15.97 million, having come in January 2003, BTI has focused its efforts on a simple, straightforward product with few costly bells and whistles.

BTI's optical link allows an original equipment manufacturer or telecom service provider to increase network performance and capacity by amplifying optical waves at relatively low cost.

The company told the OBJ in February that sales have grown steadily since the last financing round in 2003 and are doubling quarter to quarter. However, the breakeven point remains a few years away.

Wednesday's cash infusion will be used to drive global sales, with the Chinese market already identified as a key target for the company.

"This is an exciting time for BTI as we are poised to capture a leading share in the emerging metro edge market," said president and CEO Lance Laking.

"MMV Financial's investment and Mr. Pagani's global business expertise have come at the right time in our growth curve and we look forward to the opportunities ahead."

Mr. Pagani was formerly president of Nortel Network's metro optical division and also serves on the boards of local companies Diatem Networks and Nakina Systems.